Timing The Spark

--> Whoa, they are on fire! Matchstick knows what’s going on when it comes to positioning a campaign within particular time frames. Specific case studies demonstrate that there are advantages and disadvantages to igniting a WOM campaign before, during, and after a new product launch. The advantage to initiating a word of mouth campaign before the actual product launch is the ability to provide opportunities to generate buzz, purely based upon exclusivity. I had the pleasure of exploring an example of this tactic with a Matchstick representative, dealing with the Chrysler 300C launch. The campaign allowed 105 influencers the access to drive the car for a short period of time in order to generate buzz about the new launch. Due to the nature of the automobile industry, Matchstick was forced into launching the campaign before the actual launch of the car. However, the buzz generated around the car more then surpassed both Matchstick and Crysler’s expectations.

The benefits to launching a campaign during a product launch are the ability to leverage the excitement of the launch with the campaign, integrating the buzz to drive further success. This tactic embalms the consumer with messaging from every direction so that the greatest volume of consumers is reached. A campaign, which is started after a product launch, allows for measure of initial consumer response of the product. Campaigns can then align with the consensus response of a product, capturing the greatest potential of involvement.
Tags: WOM word of mouth Word-of-Mouth Marketing buzz marketing viral marketing marketing communication Northeastern University